Tag Archives: Russia

The Russian army in 1914 was considerably larger than that of Germany at 5 million men against the 4.5 million of Germany. Even when the 3.35 million men of the Austro – Hungarian empire are included in the total, only war on a single front would give the Central Powers enough strength to attack Russia with any chance of success.

Key countries around the world are officially reclassifying one of the 20th century’s greatest tragedies – the Ukranian Great Famine of 1933 – as an act of genocide. Their historical re-assessment means that Stalin’s communist regime may increasingly and controversially be portrayed as a communist equivalent of Hitler’s Third Reich in terms of genocide and mass murder.

So little is known about Kievan Russia that it has been easy to surround it with the glamour of mystery and opulence. It is true that Russian life, to the extent that any generalizations about it have meaning, centered in Kiev for centuries; it was in fact more than three and a half centuries between the advent of the Scandinavian Varangians and the far more important, enduring and fateful inundation of all Russia by the great Mongol conquests of the 12th century.

Russia was the central source of furs, which were traded to western Europe, the Byzantine Empire, and Asia. While they were a luxury, furs also came to represent the social position of aristocrats and public officials. For some, furs had an almost magical quality. As an item of social status, a fur became more valuable if more pelts, or animal skins, were used.

In the 18th century Prussia became a real military camp where everyone works for the army. The peasants were soldiers in the army and supported the army by their products, manufacturers provided the army with clothing and arms and nobles who were at Military Academy in Berlin led them as officers. The taxes for peasants and citizens were high, so army has constantly funded. Also, the peasants were forcibly recruited. They were not keen to left they fields and farms and go to the military campaigns.